Revenge is Better Cold
by Raving-Lunatic
Summary: Slade has returned, with a maddening vengeance. Without their fearless leader, will the teens be able to save the city in time?
1. Prelude

**Lunatic: Yeah. It came to me one night when I was feeding my rabbit: this first part up here with Robin. Hahah. She'd broken a nail. No I don't abuse my fluffy bunny. **

**Note, this takes place several months, up to a year after Aftershock. **

**One day, when I am ruler of the universe, I still won't own the Teens. **

"Here." The dark shape handed him something as consciousness slowly came back into focus. He held it a moment, cautious and very confused. He had no idea where he was, or why. That left him no reason to trust anything given to him by a shadowy shape in the doorway.

"Don't worry. It's not poison." The figure acknowledged his suspicion. Robin inspected the thing in his hands and discovered it was some sort of food. "It'll get the taste of blood out of your mouth.

Robin spared a glance at his captor, and put a hand to his mouth. There was blood there, and he spat, trying to get rid of the coppery taste. He didn't take the food.

The darkness scoffed. "Don't eat it all at once.

A door slammed shut and the light source was gone. Robin sighed and tried to remember what had landed him here.

Cyborg dragged a kicking Beast Boy through the main doors of Titan's Tower.

"Let go of me! We can still go back and save him!" Beast Boy cried angrily.

Raven floated in mutely behind them, Starfire at her heels. All three of the surviving Titans firmly agreed with Beast Boy's sentiments but they had heard the demands, and knew what was at stake. If they did not fall back, and give the villains their way, then Robin's life wouldn't be the only one that was sacrificed. The nuke hidden somewhere in the bowels of the city's sewer system would take care of that.

Cyborg let go of Beast Boy's collar and the green shape shifter immediately stormed back to the door. Black energy surrounded him and held him at bay. Raven, looking infuriatingly calm as usual, stepped in front of him, her hand outstretched.

"We can't do anything until we have a plan." She said firmly. "Rushing into save him would only get him killed.

"Raven is right, we must make a strategy." Starfire's careful syllables didn't match her eyes, which were filled to the brink with worried tears. None of them had ever seen Robin fall so spectacularly to a foe. His last words haunted all of them before he lost consciousness and fell beneath the cement.

_"Fall back." He whispered hoarsely. _

Cyborg sighed angrily and started pacing, much like Robin did when he was defeated. It only made the others feel their guilt and sense of loss all the more clearly.

"I should've done something! I should've seen it coming!

"Why did I not try harder? Why did I not realize

"I can't take this! Every time we lose, every time we need him most-

"Enough!" Raven's monotone shattered through the self-berating rants of the other Titans. She glowered darkly at all of them, and lowered her hood. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We need to make a plan." She said forcibly.

Starfire sighed. "Our friend is right.

But none of them made a move to the large screen in the center of the room. They were paralyzed in shock and fear at what had become of their fallen leader. Beneath her calm exterior, Raven was shaking.

Cyborg, staring moodily at the floor, finally nodded. "Alright y'all. Let's get down to it." He moved over to the large screen and called up a menu of police files. "First, let's find out who we're dealing with.

"They called themselves theÉSyndicate?" Starfire recalled helpfully. She floated nervously by Cyborg's shoulder, hands clasped.

"Yeah, but can you guess how many bad guys call themselves that?" Beast Boy sniped sarcastically. "There are probably hundreds of crime rings called the "Syndicate"." He made little quotation marks with his fingers.

"True. But we were attacked by something a little bigger than a crime ring I'm thinking." Cyborg mumbled distractedly.

"We are." Raven said quietly. They all turned to look at her. "It's a cult.

"What is a Ôcult'?" Starfire asked at the same time that Cyborg asked, "What makes you say that?

"A cult is a group of people who follow a leader who's managed to convince them that they have to worship them, or some other deity who doesn't exist." Raven answered with her usual monotony. There was a glimmer in her eyes. "I say this because they all had a symbol on their uniforms, suggesting that they work together under a single leader. Crime rings don't like to mark themselves. A cult would proclaim itself proudly.

"Yeah I remember, it was like a spiky- oh _no_." Beast Boy's eyes widened in horror as he came to a logical conclusion.

In unison they whispered a name they had learned to hate.

_Slade._


	2. Mock ME Will You?

Lunatic:

I put a leash on BB and tried to take him as my own. But then the copyright guys came and tried to sue me. So I don't own the Teens.

When Robin next awoke, his memories were less hazy, but the light had not improved. He was starving and had no idea how long he had been in this dingy cell with nothing but a toilet and a pillow. His utility belt was gone, not that he expected anything different.

For the first hour or so, he stubbornly ignored the food that had been given to him, expecting poison or worse. But he realized that he should be dead already, if that had been their intention, and that feeding him poisoned food hours after the fact seemed rather pointless. So he gave into hunger and ate the square cut of spongy material. It appeared to be some kind of breadÉor something.

Afterwards, he set about exploring the cell, what little there was to explore. The walls and floor and ceiling were seamless sheets of metal, but rough as if they had been thrown together and melded with no real care. The door had no handles or visible hinges, but a small grated window at the top of it revealed the light source: a dingy light bulb in an even darker hallway. Other than that, he could see nothing else.

He was painfully aware of the camera whirring tauntingly in the corner. It irritated him, and he didn't like the idea of his captors watching him. For now, he merely ignored it and set about remembering what had happened.

For weeks there had been suspicious activity all over the city: thefts at large corporations, precious technology stolen. All of it had taken place right under their noses. Each operation had been conducted with such stealth, that no one realized the items were missing until the next morning. Robin had worked furiously to see who was behind it all, fearing that something big was coming. Sure enough, they'd awoken that morning to the blaring alarm in Titans' Tower.

He remembered answering the call to trouble, arriving in the center of the city. A group of madmen dressed in black had made a hostage situation. Their demands: for the Teen Titans to arrive.

He remembered lunging for the leader of the black clad figures. "Teen Titans! Go!" barely out of his mouth, and the rest became a blur. He had no idea why the criminals wanted the Titans as a ransom, and he had no idea who they were. Were the other Titans locked down here too?

He ran to the door and held onto the bars. "Raven? Starfire? Are you guys in here?" His voice echoed mockingly back at him. Nothing. They were unconscious, couldn't hear him, or just weren't there. He had a sinking feeling that he was alone.

He sat back in his corner and tried to recall everything that happened that day. He brought up the image of the villains themselves, every detail of their clothing and demeanor.

They'd been wearing matching black jumpsuits with silver armor at the joints, legs, arms and neck. In fact, all of them had looked eerily similar to him as Slade's apprentice. This thought spurned in him a new wave of rage.

He jerked up and ripped the camera down from the wall. That would bring someone down here, and then he'd give _them_ something to watch. In his mind a voice taunted softly.

_Patience, Robin. Patience. _

They decided to spread out and search the sewers themselves. Crimes were already happening all over the city, small thefts and break-ins like the warm up acts before the show.

The Titans were helpless to stop these events. The demands were clear: if the Titans interfered, then the city would be destroyed within 24 hours, and Robin would be slain. However, this gave them plenty of time to search for the Syndicate and its lethal weapon.

A day of endless wandering and constant research had yielded nothing. Knowing Slade, if it really was their arch nemesis back from the presumed dead, then finding him would be hard, especially if he didn't want to be found. Raven was sure that the one eyed villain was mocking them.

For one, he had decked all of his newest servants in the same outfit as Robin's when the wonder boy had fallen prey to his apprenticeship. For another, among his usual robotic masterpieces, were humans. He'd convinced them, in some hellish way or another, that his intentions were noble.

Raven wandered listlessly through the last tunnel of her circuit. She was tired and her attention was wavering, much to her displeasure. She kept worrying about Robin and things kept exploding. She'd been exiled to her room to meditate by the other Titans, after she caused the fridge to spit out all of its contents and go up in flames.

She couldn't even understand _why _she was so upset about this. Robin, as a member of the Titans, was a useful addition. He had always been kind to her and respectful of her privacy and boundaries. But none of that made it any more plausible about why she was so upset.

When Cyborg had left the Titans after an argument with Robin, Raven had felt this way. She still didn't really understand it. Caring for people was always hard for her.

She stopped suddenly, noticing a maintenance tunnel that wasn't on any of the maps they'd been given. She floated motionlessly, weighing her options. Finally, she decided to mark where she was with a black X made by her powers, lest she lose her way, and follow the extra tunnel.

Beast Boy sighed in an irritated fashion, implying that he was very unhappy about the entire situation. Wandering sewers was not his idea of a good time. The stench of the water was infesting his sensitive dog nose as he sniffed the air for anything unusual. It made him gag.

He became human for a moment, just to clear his nose. "Augh, I'm going to be smelling that for a week!" His ears drooped wearily as he looked around at the filth he'd been forced to search through. "Robin, dude you better be thankful.

His communicator beeped briefly. "BB you there?" It was Cyborg.

"Yeah man. Dude, this place stinks." He whined.

"Tell me about it. Look, Raven found something. Meet us at the tunnel beneath West St.

"Got it." He shut off the cell and tucked it back in his belt. "Please let it be something better than this.

West St. was only a few blocks away from his position. As a cheetah, he made good time, though he missed his turn twice. The other Titans were already there, staring blankly at a small niche in the wall that appeared to be closed by debris.

"This is what you found?" Beast Boy said sarcastically. But Raven wasn't there to hear it.

"Dude, she's _in _there." Cyborg said quietly.

"Friend? Can you hear us? It is I, Starfire, I wish to help you." She put a hand to the jumbled rocks, and then her ear. "Raven? Raven are you there?" She brightened suddenly. "Friends! I can hear her! She is alive!

"Alright Rae! Stand back!" Cyborg shouted, and aimed his cannon at the debris. A muffled noise was coming from the other side of the rocks.

"What?" All three Titans gathered closer to the rocks to hear what Raven was saying.

"No! Don't blast it! Whatever you do, _do not blast this wall_!" Her voice was small, but undoubtedly frantic.

"But, Raven, why do you not wish us to free you?

"I could have easily levitated these rocks, didn't you ever stop to think why I haven't yet?" Even from the other side of a wall, Beast Boy could tell that she was angry.

"Well, why not?" Cyborg looked plainly confused.

"The rocks are supporting more above them. You move them and I won't be able to-" there was a muffled noise and Raven's scolding voice returned. "No!

Lunatic: -Cackles- Cliffhanger.


	3. Know Yourself

**Lunatic: This is what happens when people don't sleep. Forgive me. **

**They are mine! Mine all mine! What? Copyright infringement? THAT MUCH?? All right, all right. **

**I don't own the Teen Titans. Happy now?**

Cyborg stopped caring about rocks supporting ceilings the minute Raven screamed. Apparently so did Beast Boy. Before he could even raise his cannon at the mess, the green dude had started lifting away rocks and chipped asphalt with large monkey hands. His gorilla form barely fit into the small, dirty tunnel.

Starfire helped, shooting bright green bolts at the rocks and showering everyone with a fine dust. "Friend! Please, do not give up! We will help you soon!" Starfire pleaded nervously.

Behind the rocks they still had yet to destroy, they could hear Raven struggling with unseen foes. Her cries of strain and exertion were becoming loud cries of pain.

"Move out of the way y'all!" Cyborg shouted over the loud noise of shattering rocks and Raven's plaintive yells. BB and Starfire eagerly obeyed.

The sonic cannon did what the other two Titans could not. The rocks fell away, followed by others. Cyborg dispatched of them as well. The dust choked and swirled around them, hiding everything from view.

When it cleared, Raven was gone.

"Awh man! Not her too!" Beast Boy cried.

"Damn." Cyborg scanned the debris with regret and hope on his face, but there was nothing.

"They cannot have gone far, we should search for her!" Starfire said hopefully. The boys were already plowing ahead into the tunnel, glancing from side to side in fear of danger.

An hour later they returned to the Tower, empty-handed.

"Now what?" Beast Boy asked, and fell dejectedly on to the couch. Sure Raven was a grump, and she never laughed at his jokes, but she was his friend. He remembered her frantic screams of pain, and winced.

"I guess we just keep searching." Cyborg answered quietly. He stared thoughtfully out the window. "Maybe I can run a thermal scan in the sewers

They all jumped as the red alert went off for the hundredth time. Starfire sighed. "I do not like neglecting our duties.

Cyborg brightened suddenly, as if an idea had just come to him. He spun around and grabbed Starfire. "That's it! We don't have to neglect them!

"But friend, I do not understand. Attacking our foes will surely lead to the destruction of the city?" She stared at him in a very confused manner, both of her forearms caught in his cyber kinetic grasp.

"Yes, but we won't be attacking them!" He said eagerly. Beast Boy gave him a blank look.

"Uhm Dude, what are you talking about?

"Simple. We'll _follow_ them. Maybe Slade's henchman can lead us to where they're hiding, and maybe that will lead us to the bomb." He grinned proudly.

Starfire clapped happily. "Wonderful! Come friends, let us not waste time!

Robin ran to the door as he heard footsteps approaching. No one had come once the camera was disabled, and as far as he could see from his little window, there were no other cells let alone any other prisoners. He wasn't sure, but he felt that he had only been there a day or two.

No one had come with any other food provisions or water, which gave him plenty of time to plot by himself, albeit hungrily. He'd thought briefly of taking apart the toilet and using the plumbing as a weapon, but changed his mind once he imagined the things he might find there. Judging by the smell, none of it would be pleasant.

Now it seemed that several people were coming down the long empty hallway.

He leapt back from the door as it opened, revealing two figures, with one being supported between them. They dropped their burden to the ground, along with food. Bread and water instead of that strange sponge like food.

But Robin wasn't looking at the provisions. He was staring at the figure now obscured as the door slid shut. Raven, unconscious and beaten, lay sprawled on his cell floor.

The three remaining Titans peered around the corner of the large skyscraper, staring intently into the darkness. Several figures lurked ahead of them. Despite their guaranteed safety, the criminals still gazed around them with a certain amount of caution.

There were ten, five sharing a heavy burden between them. It had obviously come from the development several blocks away, where many military experiments where tested. The teens had no idea what it was or what it might be for.

Cyborg whispered quietly to his two partners. "They're heading into that manhole." He gestured to the open sewer line, where the villains were silently disappearing.

The three waited for several seconds before following. Starfire and Beast Boy flew while Cyborg did his best to walk along the edges of the sewer, avoiding the water and it's splashing. The shadows of their foes flickered eerily in the half darkness as the men in black splashed carelessly through the water. The Titans didn't dare speak or hardly breathe for fear of their words echoing over the murky liquid and curved walls of the tunnel.

They followed the criminals through several sewer systems until they reached a point where the tunnel ended and spilled its contents into the bay. They could see the Tower glinting in the moonlight only a mile or so away.

"Anyone else feel like we just wasted time going full circle?" Beast Boy whispered quietly. Their ten queries had already plunged out of the mouth of the tunnel and landed in a boat down below. The engine revved loudly and they sped off, heading away from the harbor.

"I guess we've got to follow them." Cyborg said skeptically.

"But I am wondering how." Starfire said sadly.

"What do you mean? We can just fly-" Beast Boy stopped and followed Starfire's finger. The boat, which they had failed to notice did not have an open top, had plunged beneath the surface of the water, leaving a trail of bubbles and foam. "Oh." His ears drooped comically.

"We'll wait here tomorrow, in the sub. Three people can pilot it and we'll be able to follow them." Cyborg declared.

"You are sure that they will return to this entrance again?" Starfire looked dubiously at their home, confused as to why the enemy would chose an exit so close to them.

"Isn't it obvious Star? They think we won't do anything. That's why they chose to operate so close to Titans' Tower, like a really bad joke. They'll be back here tomorrow; trust me." Cyborg glared off into the distance where a small trail of bubbles was fading.

"I do not like this joke." Starfire whispered sadly.

"Raven? Raven wake up." Robin's voice filtered through the darkness, a complete darkness. That was it then, it all had been a dream. She had simply slept too late and here was Robin, calling her to duty.

Upon opening her eyes, Raven could only see Robin's face. Immediately she wished she hadn't opened them at all. Robin was bruised, and was looking at her with a vague mixture of concern and confusion. The rest of their surroundings weren't much better.

She sat up, rubbing her head and groaning. The dirty cell looked like it had been thrown together quickly, quickly but skillfully. She tried to use her powers on a ragged pillow in the corner. Just as she suspected, nothing happened.

"Are you alright?" Robin had a hand on her back. She hadn't realized that it was the only thing really holding her up.

She groaned again. "No." Nausea and dizziness started to blur her vision. Robin helped ease her back onto the floor.

"Easy, don't push yourself.

"I tried- the pillow, I can't use my powers." She said past the sickening vertigo in her stomach.

Robin glowered. "I figured as much." He grabbed the accused pillow and helped to put it under Raven's head. "What happened?

She winced as pain lanced through her head. "Urgh. Ambushed in the sewers. I think I surprised them as much as they Ðow- surprised me. What are you doing?

"Checking your injuries." He paused from where he'd been examining a deep cut on her thigh. "The sewers?

"Yeah. Looking for you." She tried sitting up again, to tend to her own injuries, but Robin pushed her back down. He needn't have done it, dizziness was swirling her vision again and made her weak.

"Whoa, lay down. It looks like you took a really bad hit to the head. Give it an hour or two." He stood, satisfied that all her injuries other than her head, were minor. He started pacing in typical Robin fashion. Unfortunately in the limited space that they occupied, he could only go one or two steps in either direction.

Raven hissed in irritation. "Would you mind not doing that?" Robin stopped and looked at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry. I just can't figure out whose behind all this, or why I'm being kept here." Absent mindedly, he began pacing again.

"Robin. Robin. _Robin._ He glanced at her. "I told you to stop." Disgruntled and irritated, the boy wonder managed to stop pacing for a minute to face his friend.

Raven sighed in relief. His motion had started to make her nauseous again. "Look we think we're pretty clear on whose behind this. Slade.

He froze completely. "Slade? Are you sure?

She shrugged, and let her head drop back down onto the pillow. How could something that lumpy feel that soft? "They wear his symbol, that's all we know.

Robin fell into a thoughtful silence. Raven took the moment to drop back into unconsciousness.

Raven awoke to Robin's furious pacing, which had not gotten any further than two steps per direction. It made for a very irritating revival into consciousness. She groaned, head pounding, as she tried to lever herself into a sitting position.

Robin stopped his agitated movements when he heard her groan, and dropped to his knees beside her. He had a hand behind her back for support, in case the dizziness hadn't subsided. "Raven! How do you feel?

"Like I've been trampled by some kind of Tamaranian creature." She smiled briefly at him. Robin laughed.

"You were obviously hit harder than we thought. You're actually cracking jokes." His smile faded. "How are the others?

"Panicked." She said plainly. When he tried to help her stand, she pushed him off, saying stiffly "I'm fine." Robin knew when to give Raven her space, not that there was much to give in their tiny cell.

It was such a small enclosure for two people to share, circumstances aside. They were bound to get bored, and irritated, plagued by their own worry and doubts. With nothing else to think about, Raven felt they would be on the verge of insanity before anything changed.

She glanced disdainfully at the toilet. "We have to share that?

The three remaining Titans woke early that morning, whether out of anticipation or fear, they couldn't tell. Cyborg took the pilot's seat in the orange T-Sub, while Starfire and Beast Boy dispersed themselves between the navigation and defense positions.

"All right y'all, I worked on some upgrades last night so she'd be ready for this little excursion." Cyborg was saying proudly. He always took extra pride in his creations. "She's now got a cloaking device and semi-silent engines. If we're lucky, they won't even see us.

The mechanical genius had taken the idea from Robin's Red X, who had also used cloaking technology. He'd altered it to fit a larger vessel. Now the T-Sub, when the device was activated, would reflect everything around it, creating the illusion that it wasn't there.

"All of the systems are online and functional, Cyborg." Starfire pressed several buttons and the sub roared with suppressed power.

"Defensive capabilities are Go." Beast Boy concluded as he checked all the monitors and various levers leading to the T-Sub's weapons.

"Then let's go." Cyborg opened the underwater hatch and guided the sub out into the open harbor.

Sewer water was pouring disinterestedly into the water, creating a ruckus of foam and sewage. Beast Boy gagged.

"Man, when this is over, I'm going to do something about that. That's pollution!" He pitied the fish that lived within the water, breathing the refuge of man.

"Quiet, they'll be able to hear you if they have the technology." He pointed to a black silhouette bobbing harmlessly above them. It was the ship that had sped away the day before. "I'm setting her down.

Cyborg guided the sub to the bottom, nestled between underwater plant growth and sand. With a press of a button the engines shut down and an oppressing silence settled around them.

"Man how long is this going to take?" Beast Boy complained. Cyborg made a shushing noise at him.

"Shut it before I turn off your microphone myself.

They didn't have to wait long. Only an hour sitting there at the bottom and the small boat above them suddenly revved it's engines and prepared to leave. Cyborg reignited the sub's power and they rose a few inches off the murky bottom.

A moment later and the enemy ship sped away, gradually sinking as it did so. Cy activated the cloaking systems. "Y'all ready?

Starfire and Beast Boy gave eager affirmatives. Cyborg hit the gas and took after their target.

Raven had spent the last half hour telling Robin everything she knew about what was happening. They'd saved most of the bread, based on Robin's experience that food didn't come often. Now the boy wonder was thoughtfully hunched in a corner, trying to connect the series of events.

"Slade obviously is trying to take over the city again." He muttered to himself.

"And doing a good job of it too." Raven opened one eye to look at him. Slade had full run of the city, but he hadn't done anything more than attack a few corporations and steal technology. Most of which tended to be back water experiments that had failed miserably.

"But what is he planning? Why hasn't he just sent all his armies into the streets likeÉbefore." He concluded gently.

"Maybe he's building something." Raven suggested. She wasn't trying to be helpful, she was trying to get him to stop thinking out loud so she could meditate.

"But why use so many failed experiments?" He muttered. Robin turned to Raven, who was now giving up on getting any peace at all. "Tell me again what he stole.

"Before you were taken we know he took several plans for military weapons, along with the computer chips that controlled those weapons. Afterwards, he continued to take biological experiments. All we could get were "classifieds" when we tried to find out what those were exactly." She sighed. "Other than that we don't know.

"I don't understand." He said irritably and hit the floor with his fist. Robin was a sleuth at heart and hated being in the dark. "You said he's got plenty of robots and humans, enough to take over the city, and a nuke below it. Why does he need more weapons? And why biological?

Raven sat thoughtfully for a minute or two, staring blankly at the floor. Her head still hurt occasionally and it made concentrating even more difficult. A wave of pain cascaded behind her eyes and she squeezed them shut. Head between her knees, she waited for the pain to recede.

"Raven, are you OK?

She wished he'd stop running to her side every time she had a little ache. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder, but didn't move her head from its position on her legs. "I'm fine.

"You know," he said quietly, "sometimes you're a lot like me.

Raven looked up quickly, too quickly, to stare at him. He had stood and was watching the window in the door with arms crossed.

"What do you mean?" Her tone was so guarded and careful, that Robin turned back around to look at her instead.

"Serious, focused, independent, I'm the same way. But you know Raven, I think that because you hide your emotions so much, you don't know yourself as well as you should.

Raven had no idea where this lecture was coming from, and she had no idea what to say in response. She pulled her hood up around her face. "It's not like I have a choice." She spat.

"I know." His voice was gentle, the same old caring Robin.

It was another few hours before they spoke to one another again. Raven spent the time meditating, or trying to. Robin's words were haunting her.

_You don't know yourself as well as you should._

_I know myself just fine. _

But do you? You're just a series of facets, personalities that you have to control. You won't admit it, but you've divided yourself so much that you don't even know which part of you is real.

"Shut up." She hissed quietly. She couldn't tell which voice was in her head, but if it was Rage then it was a voice she didn't want to listen to.

"Raven?" Robin was sitting across from her, Indian style.

"What?" She snapped. Being in the same room with the same person for hours on end was grating on her nerves, not to mention the sudden self doubt that Robin had so generously given her. Raven liked her solitude, and she liked her confidence. None of it boded well for a pleasant evening in their dingy little cell.

"What happenedÉthat day with Dr. Light? You never told any of us, except BB and Cyborg." For Robin, his voice sounded so unsure that Raven's irritation faded. He wasn't looking at her, but at the floor.

"They weren't meant to know in the first place." She grumbled quietly.

"I know that." Finally he raised his eyes and watched her, some of his confidence returned. Likely he'd thought she would be angry with him for asking. "I've just been wondering about it for the longest time.

True, Robin usually respected Raven's boundaries, and he never needed anything more from her than her friendship. He still stood by that, it came from living with an equally dark and mysterious person (Batman). But that night they had seen a frightening side of Raven, even he had been terrified by her sudden explosion of negative energy. He never doubted that she was on the side of justice, but Robin couldn't help his curiosity. Seeing as they were alone in a cell for hours on end, he figured he might as well ask.

Raven seemed to be debating whether to answer or not. Her sense of privacy was asking her to lie or at least give him a scalding retort that would make him leave her alone. But Raven had always believed in telling the truth, and no matter how much she suppressed her conscience, she could not walk away without facing it. But there was one reason not to tell him what had happened, and it screamed inside her mind with fear.

"I can't." She whispered.

"What?

"You would never trust me again." Her hood cast her face in shadows.

Robin seemed to sit up a little straighter as he answered. "Raven, you're my friend. Nothing you tell me will change that.

She smiled one of her rarer smiles at him, but it was hesitant. She took a deep breath, and decided to tell him the whole story.

"My motherÉwanted power. She gave herself as a- a bride of Satan. An evil being called Trigon took her offer. When my mother realized what she had done, she went to a place called Azarath, a place of pacifists. They raised me to control my powers and the evil insideÉme." She took a deep breath. "That night with Dr. Light, the evil of my father broke my control. It happens when I'm angrier than I should be." Her voice was monotone, as if explaining how tofu was made. She stared resolutely at the floor, fearing the expression on Robin's face.

There was a shuffling noise and Robin put a hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him. He was smiling. He pushed the hood back from her face. "Raven, we can't change who our parents are, or what they've done. But we can change who we are. I don't fear, or see any evil inside of you. You're Raven, and you're my friend. I trust you.

Raven felt stunned, she felt like she had when Beast Boy and Cyborg had stayed in her mind and risked their lives to help her. Of course, what else had she expected from someone like Robin? She smiled slightly and blushed.

"Thank you.

She realized then how close Robin was. He seemed to notice too because a strange look came over his face, a mixture of worry and something else. "RavenÉ" He said slowly.

Raven could feel herself blushing even more, the intensity of his gaze was making her nervous. His hand moved from her chin to her cheek, which was burning. Then his hand was in her hair and their lips were pressed together.

Her initial reaction was total shock, followed by an odd sort of pleasure. She enjoyed how close his body was, the warmth radiating from him was a relief from the cold metal of the cell. His hand in her hair made her tingle and she began to return the kiss.

But things were being forgotten in the face of rash passion. She broke away from him and covered her mouth. "Robin- I- we can't-you and Star- I-" She stuttered, for once at a loss for words.

"Me and Starfire?" He'd let go of her completely and backed away, respecting her denial. He didn't look hurt, only confused.

She pulled her hood back up to hide the turmoil of suppressed emotions there. "You and her have something between you. I don't want you risking that just because you're bored in a cell with me." She answered stiffly.

He stood very suddenly and paced away from her. When she looked at him again, she realized he was angry.

"How can you think I would do that?" He asked quietly. "I don't know how Star feels about me, but she's my best friend. Nothing more. "He cut the air with his hand to emphasize this. When he looked back at Raven the bars of orange light fell across his face. "She's so na•ve Raven, you know that, and so do I. I feel like I have to protect her. That's not-" He sighed and ran a gloved hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry." And for once, her voice was choked with emotion.

Lunatic: Ok who saw that one coming? If you don't approve of R&R don't get all jumpy. There's more to this story than that. I just don't like the idea of Starfire in any relationship, she's cute enough on her own. A relationship would ruin the naivete of her character.

**And a thanks to the reveiwers! I can't tell you how much I closed my eyes, fearing you all hated it. So: MUAH Ðkiss- 3 **


	4. Radiation

**Lunatic: Ok here's the part where I do that gushy thing and thank my reviewers. **

**Bubblebean022: Why thank you very much for being open-minded. I always respect that in someone. I look forward to completing this story if for your benefit alone **

**Mew-Xena: I do apologize for the cliff hangers, but they keep readers coming back, or so they say. I'm glad you enjoy and hope to see you back again. **

I had Robin over my shoulder in a potato sack and was just making a break for it, when suddenly he cut free and handed me a note. It was a copy of the copyright laws. So unfortunately after that event, I resigned from trying to steal the Teen Titans. They are not mine.

The darkness of the water surrounding them grew deeper as the T-Sub followed their opponents. The cloaking technology appeared, for the most part, to be working. No alarms were sounding and the other boat had yet to wheel around and aim torpedoes at the small invisible vessel. Cyborg was proud.

"I told y'all this would work! Boo yah!" He punched the air in triumph.

"Argh are we there yet?" Beast boy was going stir crazy in the small compartment. They'd been following Slade's minions for more than an hour, and he was starting to get claustrophobic. He decided to complain about this out loud.

"Dude, shut it. I have no idea how much longer we're going to-" He stopped and stared at the sonar screen that glowed merrily in front of him. There were now more than one blip on the screen. "Uh-Oh.

"What is Ôuh-oh'?" Starfire inquired.

"That!" BB pointed at the approaching black vessels, all of which had small glowing red breams aimed in their direction.

"Why have they seen us?" The alien's voice rose a notch or two in alarm.

Cyborg was furiously checking systems, pressing buttons and whatnot. "I don't know! The cloaking systems are online!" The black vessels had enclosed them in a circle. The Titans' target continued freely onwards.

The intercom buzzed briefly as a transmission came in. If it hadn't been for the silver face and steely hair, Cyborg would have sworn that Robin the Apprentice was staring back at him from the little screen.

"Shut off your defensive systems. We will escort you to Base." The voice was bland and mechanical, obviously a dutiful recording.

"Shut this!" Cyborg cried angrily. "Beast Boy! Hit Ôem!

The little green changeling pressed a red button marked Ôtorpedo' (haha he needs labels). A jet of hot air followed the missile as it flew through the water, curving to hit one of the black ships square in the center. It exploded in a hail of steaming water. The intercom went blank.

Cyborg grabbed the controls and in the midst of the chaos, made for an escape. The other five vessels were not phased, however, by the destruction of a comrade. Obviously their instructions were to escort or kill.

"Three bogies starboard, BB." Cyborg instructed mechanically. Beast Boy, trained from years of video games and computer graphics, aimed carefully before pressing the button that would launch their defensive missiles. Two more of the mechanical guardians went down.

The remaining three began hailing them with red lasers, one of them bounced off the left of the ship and the Titans cried out in surprise as the sub jerked from impact. Cyborg, gritting his teeth angrily, righted his ship.

"No one shoots my sub!" He yelled. "Starfire! There are lasers in your part of the T-Sub, start using them!

The green eyed girl nodded, searching for the button labeled "lasers". "Cyborg where do I find these weapons?" She asked sweetly. Meanwhile another red bolt hit them squarely in the nose, sending them on a crash course with the murky bottom.

Cyborg roared as he tried to level out their velocity. When they were no longer headed to certain death, he addressed Star a little sharper than he meant to. "On the left! The control stick, grab it and use it to aim, the green button fires!

Starfire made a small noise of comprehension as she noticed the lever beside her. A moment of tinkering and she discovered that upwards aimed the laser down and downwards aimed it up. "I do not understand, why are the directions backwards?

"Just shoot it Star!" She made a small Ôeep' as his voice blared in her ear. Grumbling slightly about raging blornacks, she aimed at the nearest black, shadowy opponent. She pressed the green button and a luminous green bolt spread through the water, hitting one of the engines on the dark ship.

"Nice one Star." Beast Boy commented. He seemed much happier now that they were doing something more than secretive stalking. He aimed his own cannon at a bogey that was hovering over their engine, aiming its laser at the sensitive propeller.

"Oh no you don't." He pressed the button that would launch the missile. The black shape made to evade it but was caught in the momentum of the T-Sub and the missile hit its mark. Showers of metal and displaced water rained down on them in a shadowy cloud. They and their opponent vanished in the ensuing steam.

Suddenly Cyborg cut the engines. "Dude what are you doing!" Beast Boy cried frantically.

"Shh, listen." A whirring noise parted the darkness. "Beast Boy, aim at it." The T-Sub was sustaining damage and they were running out of fuel. If BB could make the shot as the black shape searched for them in the debris and foaming water, then they would be able to return to the Tower intact.

Beast Boy struggled to see their enemy, aiming the cannon here and there with no luck. The smoky steam was fading, leaving them exposed and without power. If he didn't find it soon- there!

He pressed the button. They all watched in anticipation, hoping that the ship would be caught off guard. They were met with a satisfying, fiery explosion.

"All right! Go BB!" Cyborg's triumph mingled with Starfire's exclamations of, "Glorious friend! You have saved us all!

Beast Boy blushed and pulled at one of his ears. "Yeah, I guess I did." He stopped preening his ego for a minute to actually think. "But now what?

"Good question. We've lost our target and the sub is too damaged to look for it." He sighed sadly, looking down at the dashboard where the intercom sat black and leering. He wished Robin's face would appear there and tell him to return to the Tower, pizza's getting cold. But no such thing happened. "I guess we go home.

"Perhaps we should explore the tunnel in which Raven was ambushed?" Starfire put in helpfully as the engines of the T-Sub roared back into life. "There may be Ôclues'?

"You may be right Star. We didn't look too carefully when we were trying to find Raven, there might be things we missed." All of them hoped that there would be something hidden in the darkness of that tunnel, and all of them wondered what their friends were going through.

In fact, Robin and Raven had spent the last several hours ignoring each other as best as possible. At least Raven was. She spent her time sinking desperately into meditation, pounding on the door to Nevermore. The doorway to her mind was sealed to her.

Robin was staring blankly at a point on the wall, as if it contained all the answers he sought. He sighed angrily and made a wordless noise of frustration. "I'm sick of this!

Raven stared at him. "What?" Her voice was so toneless, that it didn't sound like a question at all.

"Sitting here! Waiting! We should be doing something, trying to escape. Something!" He pounded his fist on the wall and sank to the floor.

"Like what? My powers don't work here, and I don't see you with any bright ideas to break through solid steel." She said sarcastically.

He didn't answer her, just stared at the ceiling. His eyes widened suddenly and he leapt over to her. She tensed, expecting another kiss, but he just reached past her to the pillow where they had stored the extra bread.

He dug through it as if searching for something. She watched him until her curiosity got the better of her.

"ÉWhat?

"When was the last time they brought food?" He asked in reply.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "When I was brought in I suppose.

"Exactly." He said, and stood to look out the door. "That was almost twelve hours ago, more should be arriving soon.

Curious and fairly alarmed by the fact that he knew this, she levered herself off the floor and went to stand beside him. Raven was the only one shorter than Robin. "How do you know that?" She asked suspiciously.

"I've always been able to tell how much time has passed, it's only a rough guess." He was still staring eagerly through the bars. "I have a plan.

"Like what?" She watched him intently, watching the light flicker across his face as he looked up and down the empty hallway.

"When the guards come to bring the food, I'll knock them out." He pounded his hand into his fist. "We'll use their uniforms to sneak out unnoticed.

"I don't know Robin, it sounds too easy." She was expressionless as usual, though she was aware that she didn't have to fear her powers now that they weren't working. She stifled the worry that started in her abdomen and spread its cold fingers to her heart when she thought of his plan going awry.

He sobered a little as he looked at her. "I know." He grabbed her hand, and a chill went down her spine. "Raven, when we get out of here-

She pulled away from him. She knew what he was about to bring up. "When we get out of here, we're not going to talk about it." She said firmly. "Understand?

He shook his head. "No, I don't.

She sighed, adopting the usual glare that she saved for Beast Boy when he was being particularly dumb. "Even if I did return you feelings, whatever they might be, I wouldn't be able to. My powers would react too strongly and I would risk the safety of everyone around us. That's not a risk I'm willing to take.

He stopped her from walking away from him, grabbing onto her upper arm with his usual speed. She marveled at how tight his grip was. "Let go of me Robin." She didn't look at him.

"Your powers don't work here." He said very quietly. If the walls hadn't been metal, and therefore inclined to echo, she probably wouldn't have heard him.

She ripped her arm from his grasp and spun around. "That doesn't mean I can just-" Footsteps pounded metallically down the hallway, announcing the arrival of two guards bearing food. Robin gave her one last lingering glance before vanishing into the shadow to the left of the doorway.

It opened with a soft shush, illuminating Raven as she stood blankly in the center of the room. The guards, sensing that they could not see one of their wards, paused. It was all that Robin needed.

Two minutes and the guards, who they were shocked to discover were human, were unconscious. Robin stripped them of their clothes and shoved them inside the cell that he and Raven had so recently occupied.

Nervously she flexed her powers, drawing the spandex shirt toward her, and smiled in relief to see that they worked. She noticed Robin watching her, and hastily snatched the garment from the air. She held it up in her hands to look at it.

"Do I have to-" She froze, seeing Robin in the full uniform. "Robin you-

He dropped his gaze. "I look like I did when I worked with Slade." He agreed. "I know.

Raven remembered sadly the sting of his seeming betrayal so long ago. Raven remembered how she had given up on him so quickly, simply assumed in a moment that he had betrayed them all. The guilt had kept her awake for weeks.

He was looking at himself with a pained expression. Slade's momentary control of him was something he would never be proud of.

She touched his hand. "Robin, you know that we've forgiven you?

He shook his head, but not in denial. "But I haven't forgiven myself. I should have done something, I should have fought harder." He clenched his other hand in a fist and envisioned Slade's face between his fingers.

"And you did, in the end." She said softly. "You never lost your loyalty to the Titans. In the end it was that loyalty that saved all of us and you.

He stared for a moment longer at his fist, then he let his fingers loosen and the scowl eased from his face. He squeezed her hand and smiled. "Thank you." He said gently. He frowned slightly as he looked at her, still in her usual uniform. "Are you going to put that on or what?

She let go of him and glared. "Fine." She started to undo the clasp on her hood until she noticed that Robin was watching with a smirk on his face. "Turn around please.

He smiled. "Have it your way." He was joking, but Raven still glared heatedly at his back.

The other Titans didn't rest that afternoon after the fiasco in the T-Sub. Cyborg stored the orange vessel in the underwater station and led them all back into the control room. There, they ate lunch and decided that they would rather not wait until tomorrow to explore the tunnel.

Cyborg, the flashlight on his shoulder causing the shadows to trip and jump, led the way. They shuffled past the debris at the entrance, glancing nervously at the cracks in the ceiling above them. Rats squeaked and jeered as they ran away from the light.

Cyborg ran his hand down the wall on one side. "This isn't the same as the rest of the sewer system. These rocks are older. 

He forged ahead, cutting a path in the complete darkness. The walls around them were rough, as if they'd been forged by time and water, not man. It was dry, and the air felt stale.

Starfire gazed balefully at their dark surroundings. The place was ominous and oppressing, as if dark things gazed out from the cracks in the walls with vindication. She shuttered as something furry brushed past her leg, but did her best not to scream.

She felt as if they had been walking for hours before Cyborg suddenly stopped. Beast Boy, who had taken the dark creepiness of the tunnel as a cue to make frightening noises and silly jokes, wasn't paying attention and walked straight into the taller boy's back.

"Ouch." He rubbed his head where a bump was forming. "Hey tin man watch where you're-" He had glanced at where Cyborg was staring and found himself looking at a wide room, like an antechamber. It was filled with tunnels branching off in every direction.

In the center sat a bulk of metal and wires, glowing menacingly in the light shed from the lamps strung to the ceiling. It looked evil and stagnant, emanating darkness and foreboding.

It was the bomb.

Cyborg was the first to regain his senses. He dragged Beast Boy and Starfire into the shadows, away from the eyes of the swarming minions that crawled over the place like ants. Several were standing around the heavy nuke, guns in their arms.

"What shall we do?" Starfire queried. Her voice was small but fiercely determined. Cyborg was thinking furiously. If they could shut down that bomb then they would be able to rid the city of its parasites. On the other hand, Robin and Raven could be killed.

They didn't have many options, the nuclear weapon had to be disabled. He had to trust in Robin's ability to save himself from any tight place.

"You two," he said, pointing to his two friends, "distract them. I'm going to get me some private time with that bomb.

Lunatic: BWHAHAHA. Yeah. Of course I was going to leave it there! What else did you expect? And no, Robin and Raven are not going to get off that easy.

**By the way, I apologize for the jumbled symbols and lack of some quotation marks. The uploading process does that. Ðbows-**


	5. Murder is Murder

Lunatic: Well here's another one. And NO I do not own the Titans ok? Stop bugging me about it.

As it turned out, the human residents of Slade's group of minions wore overbearing, protective faceplates. Robin donned his with a small grin as he turned around, waiting for Raven to dress herself.

She didn't bother to take off her black leotard. She just didn't like the idea of Robin watching her and possibly visualizing. Besides, none of the other Titans had ever seen her without her cloak.

As she pulled the slightly too large shirt over her head, Robin scanned the empty hallway. Even without his usual Bo staff and assorted gadgets, he still looked dangerous. He may be short of stature and fairly small when it came to bulk, but Robin was as powerful as any of the super powered teens.

He stalked silently toward the edge of the light, the small bulb above them flickering carelessly. Their circlet of stuttering illumination was sibling to others that stretched in either direction down the corridor. Robin vanished in the shadows between one lamp and the next.

She buckled the last of the garment; a belt adorned with various pouches, around her waist and tucked her blue cloak into the largest of the compartments. It barely fit. Looking at her new attire, she grimaced slightly. Raven rather preferred her blue and black uniform to this awkward collection of fabric and metal.

Robin's hand came out of nowhere and pulled her into the shadows. He handed her, her faceplate and put a finger to where his lips would be. Raven followed his approximate gaze down the oppressing darkness of the hallway.

Though she could not see anything, she sensed through the demon genetics in her blood, that further down the orange and black hallway waited two more guards. There was no pound of a heartbeat from these new presences, only the mechanical whir of metal and gears.

"Machines." She whispered. Her voice was emotionless, but in truth she was having a hard time keeping her black energy under control. Robin's fingers intertwined with hers were distracting her and allowing various emotions to show themselves in her mind.

She closed her eyes and focused on the backs of her eyelids, chanting softly. Azarath, Metrion, Zhinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zhinthos. She pulled her fingers out of his and wished desperately that she were wearing her cloak. Its mysterious dark folds had always made her feel more protected than any amount of armor.

Robin didn't appear to notice her inward struggle, or her hasty withdrawal from his touch. He began to edge along the wall, fingertips pressed to the rough metal. Raven followed, though she did not flatten herself against the steel barrier in order to avoid the light.

The guards were standing with their backs to them, half in the light and half out. It gave them an eerie impression. Robin turned to her and pointed to the guard closest to them, indicating that this would be her target.

She glared at him from under her mask. She was used to Robin giving orders, but she thought the plan was to sneak quietly, not attack. He ignored her and began to edge onwards, toward the other side of the light.

Sighing she sidled through the shadows to stand behind her guard while Robin continued forward.

She posistioned herself silently and waited.

"HI-YAH!" Robin appeared from the other side of the circle of light into which the two machines were watching. His foot connected with the head of the second guard.

Raven didn't wait to watch more. "Azarath, Metrion, Zhinthos." A small dart of blackness split the head of her appointed target and a shower of sparks rained down on her. She held her hand up to shield herself and watched as the black and orange figure fell forwards into the spotlight, disabled.

A moment later, the second guard had fallen on top of its comrade.

"I thought you said we were going to sneak out quietly." She said in a monotone, one eyebrow raised.

Robin appeared at her side, looking down at the demolished mechanical guardians. He lifted the black faceplate from his face and sighed.

"I know. But I needed to get rid of some pent up energy." He grinned at her. Raven only shook her head and strode forward down the hallway. After a moment, Robin followed.

The shift was almost over and Malciah was getting tired. He couldn't wait to return to the mess hall and get that coffee. He was too exhausted to think much about his job of guarding an illegal nuclear weapon that threatened the lives of a thousand or more innocent people. He just wanted some caffeine.

So when he saw the enormous, leathery T-Rex charging through the stone cavern, he figured he had fallen asleep. He didn't figure much in a moment or two though, because he fainted from sheer terror.

Starfire followed her green friend into the chaos that ensued; shooting luminous green star bolts into the swarms of fleeing (and charging) enemies. Beast Boy was doing a good job of destroying the minions of Slade, and luckily, most appeared to be machines.

Cyborg came in their wake, using their perfect distractions to get close to the bomb. The guards that had surrounded it had run from their posts in terror or had charged forward at the two attackers.

He circled the mess of wires and metal for a control board. It was like no bomb he had ever seen, though the technology looked to be the same as any other. It seemed as if this were just an outer casing for the actual weapon, as is the nuke were inside it, hooked up to all these wires.

He aimed his cannon at a man that came running at him, shooting red lasers. The blue stream of energy hit him squarely in the chest and sent him flying. Cyborg moved on.

Starfire did her best to defend her friend, and avoid getting injured at the same time. She floated above his head, throwing star bolts and eye lasers where they were needed. The number of enemies was dwindling.

Beast Boy's roars of outrage added more chaos to the cacophony of noise and struggle that were already pounding their ears. The battle was coming to a climax as reinforcements came to support the original guardians of the bomb.

Star cried out in pain as a laser hit her in the shoulder, leaving a festering burn. Beast Boy's black, reptilian eye swung around to give her a questioning glance. She nodded to him in reply. She would be fine.

He returned to the battle with renewed force. The black and orange clad foes were dwindling again, as Beast Boy trampled, bit and swung with his thick tail at the pressing forces. Green bolts shattered some of the ranks, sending mechanical parts and sparks flying everywhere.

Suddenly Beast Boy's large, toothy head stretched toward the ceiling and he called out in alarm. Starfire's head whipped around at the sound, as did Cyborg's. There was blood on the shining white teeth of Beast Boy's mouth.

"Friend, you are hurt!" She called frantically. Beast Boy changed, and Star caught him.  
He shook his head, looking dazed and frantic as he touched his mouth. He stared at his fingers as they came away red.

"It's not mine!" He whimpered strangely. "That guy! He was- he was-human!" He gagged, looking shocked and horrified at what he had just done.

Starfire gazed at him with a similar mixture of emotions. "Oh Beast BoyÉ" He looked up at her, stunned with his own actions. There had been no avoiding it, he knew that, but he had just _killed_ someone.

A hail of red lasers interrupted their shocked silence.  
"Hey you two!" Cyborg cried above the noise. "Are you ok?

Starfire and Beast Boy gazed at each other a minute longer, joined by the terrible realization of what was happening around them. Beast Boy looked terrified and thenÉdetermined.

"Don't tell anyone Star. Just don't." He jumped from her arms and fell, landing amongst the fray as a charging rhino.

Star watched him as he fell. This war with Slade was much, much more serious than it had ever been before. People were dying. In all her experience with the Teen Titans, no one had _ever _been killed, least of all by one of her friends.

"Star?" Cyborg's voice came from somewhere down below.

"We are fine, friend Cyborg." She replied, and hurriedly returned to battle.

Cyborg watched his red haired friend fly back into the fray. Something had happened, her voice had been far too cold for everything to be fine. A moment later he was distracted as a beam of redness passed over his shoulder.

"Hey!" He yelled, and dispatched of his attacker.

He had found the controls the minute that BB had fallen. Now that that situation appeared, for the most part, to be resolved, he began work on hacking the computer.

He began typing in a series of codes, feeling out the level of security. There were several lock-down passwords, all easily bypassed, and a few protective firewalls that kept anyone without a special keycard from accessing the mainframe. Getting past those would not be a challenge. Cyborg chuckled confidently.

Around him, the number of robots was down to ten. Starfire swept away half of them with a blast from her star bolts, glaring coldly at the remaining fragments that were left behind. Beast Boy was being assaulted by the remaining five.

One leapt at him and was promptly thrown aside by a calloused gorilla fist. Starfire caught him with her star bolts, leaving behind a smoky ruin.

That left four.

Beast Boy leapt as a tiger at one of them, metal and claws screeching together. He tore out its mechanical throat with his fangs but a laser hit him in the side. He yowled in pain and spun around, just as Star removed the accused machine from existence.

Beast Boy became the T-Rex once more and lunged for the final two. They scattered, leaping in either direction. He caught one with his tail, sending it crashing into a wall. Starfire dispatched of the final black and orange clad robot.

The cavernous room was pockmarked with laser bolts and littered with the broken parts of the machines. Both Starfire and Beast Boy tried not to look at the blood that mingled with the oil spilling from the broken robots.

They trudged through the ruin to join Cyborg who had just broken through the last firewall.

"Finally!" He sighed. A list of options glowed blue on the screen in front of them. There wasn't a shut down.

"Damn." He whispered. "We'll have to do this manually.

Starfire glanced at the mass of metal and wires incredulously. "How?' She asked. "Surely you cannot understand how to disable such a mass of colorful cords?

He shook his head. "That isn't the bomb. From what I can tell with this system, the bomb is inside that thing. I think it's a lead casing, extra protection from powerful radiation.

"Where are you going to find a can opener big enough to get in there?" Beast Boy smiled wanly. He still felt shocked and perturbed. It didn't matter how you put it or how evil the bad guy was. It was still murder.

"Ha-ha." Cyborg said dryly. "I just have to press this-" he punched a symbol on he screen with one metal finger, "and it shouldÉwhoa.

The mass of metal and wires was hissing as steam poured from cracks along its five edges. Wires shook and jumped as the five sides of the container parted with a mechanical squeal and blossomed like a spring flower.

Inside it, there was _not_ a bomb.

Raven hastily bit back a cry of surprise as Robin grabbed her hand for the hundredth time and dragged her back into the shadows. They were following hallway after hallway, navigating an endless maze of stuttering light bulbs and metal. There were few doors along these empty corridors and little chances for distraction.

So far they had encountered more guards than she could count, all of them mechanical, and all of them now lay dysfunctional in a pile of broken parts marking their trail. It seemed Robin had a lot more energy to burn than he let on.

"Robin do you have to do that every time? I know they're there, I can feel them." She hissed. She couldn't help the tiny purr of anger that slipped into her words. Every time he touched her, she felt her concentration falter and even the tiniest crack in her control could be disastrous. It was frustrating.

He didn't bother to apologize. Raven didn't need him to.

Ahead of them, two guards were pacing across an open doorway. Raven felt that this doorway marked the end of their rat-like sneaking. For one, it lay at the immediate end of the hall, shedding more light than they had seen in several days. For another, it wreaked of wrongness.

The entire appearance of the door was slightly prophetic.

Robin made a slight movement, shifting his weight onto his back foot. Raven had come to recognize, in her years fighting by his side, that that tiny movement was his preparation to attack. She grabbed his arm of her own volition.

"No." He stared at her. "Let me.

He didn't release his aggressive stance; although he didn't charge forward either. Raven took this as acquiescence on his part.

She put both hands in front of her face, palms outward, and chanted the three words of power. Two soundless bolts of black magic flew from her fingers and embedding into the clockwork hearts of the pacing guards. They froze mid-step.

Robin was already hurrying forward, peering around the open doorway into the room beyond. Raven followed quietly, her face concealing the foreboding that had risen within her at the sight of the unblocked doorway.

In the center of the room, surrounded by floor length surveillance screens stood a familiar shape.

"Slade." Robin whispered the name with a venomous hatred. Raven wasn't watching the figure in the center of the dark room, illuminated by the flickering images of the screens. She was watching one of the screens themselves.

"RobinÉ" Her tone was full of a nervous horror. It wasn't like Raven to express any emotion, let alone one akin to fear. He pried his eyes away from the silent figure of Slade to look at her.

Raven had removed the black protective mask from her face to see the screen more properly. She was not mistaken. But how, how was such a thing even possible?

Robin followed Raven's stunned gaze to the screen in the very center of the room. What he saw made him rip the faceplate from his head as if it were distorting the image somehow. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"What the-" 

**Lunatic: HAHA. **


End file.
